Midnight mass, wren boys and mummers - How we spent Christmases past

It's just three days to Christmas and that means the cards should already be sent, the dinner prepped and the mulled wine ready to flow freely.

Each family will have their own traditions that might centre on present-giving or post-dinner TV watching but Christmases past were, in many ways, a vastly different affair.

Clodagh Doyle is a curator with the National Museum of Ireland, Country Life in Castlebar and she spoke to Newstalk Breakfast about some of the collection that is in on display in the museum, including a Christmas card from the 1890s.

"The Christmas card and the way we celebrate Christmas, it kind of goes back to the Winter Festival and it has its roots in pre-Christian times."

She also stated that people outside of Dublin may have had a goose or some beef on Christmas Day: "Turkeys come in a bit later, really about the 40s and 50s!"

Clodagh also spoke about the mummers and the candle in the window at Christmas.